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Ubuntu Linux Gaming Performance Mostly On Par With Windows 8.1

Given the recent release of Microsoft Windows 8.1, at Phoronix we took 13 different AMD Radeon and NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards and compared the performance between Ubuntu Linux and Windows 8.1 with the same hardware and set of OpenGL games/benchmarks. For AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards with their official drivers, the performance is largely similar between the competing desktop operating systems but there are some performance exceptions.

I'm not sure what work I would credit Canonical with for performance, I would grant that perhaps their popularity helps companies to expend more resources into driver quality though.

I know I'm going to regret this but what exactly is so great about Windows 8 interface? No seriously, I am asking because I don't use it.

Same. You can use the Windows 8 interface only with a mouse or a touchpad, you got no chance with using it via keyboard. Gnome Shell/Gnome3 on the other hand can be used by keyboard, by mouse or by a combination of both of them. It's superior to most interfaces out there by a large margin.

Ubuntu holds up pretty well. Windows 8.1 hasn't really matured so we can probably expect some performance improvements, but nothing significant. Anyway great work Canonical. Holding on par with a huge corporation like Microsoft takes some work. Now if only they can work out an interface that works as well at that from Microsoft. Windows 8.1 interface may suck for some people, but it's still leaps and bounds beyond anything Linux.

There are only two markets where microsoft is usually better than Linux: desktop and office. In any other market Linux just owns it. Windows 8.1 interface is terrible in comparison to KDE and other more classical Linux desktops. I even prefer Unity and Gnome Shell over it.

I'm not sure what work I would credit Canonical with for performance, I would grant that perhaps their popularity helps companies to expend more resources into driver quality though.

I know I'm going to regret this but what exactly is so great about Windows 8 interface? No seriously, I am asking because I don't use it.

Nothing. I have used both (Windows 8.1 and Windows 8... I need to support people using it). Especially Windows 8.1 introduced some problems again. The new scope-like search is kinda interesting in Windows 8.1, but I think it is more fitting on a tablet. Ubuntu has done a better job (when just watching the interface).

Same. You can use the Windows 8 interface only with a mouse or a touchpad, you got no chance with using it via keyboard. Gnome Shell/Gnome3 on the other hand can be used by keyboard, by mouse or by a combination of both of them. It's superior to most interfaces out there by a large margin.

EHHH... Seriously, for me it works EXACTLY the same as Gnome 3 :
- 1. Press windows key
- 2. Type first letters of the software you wanna launch
- 3. Press enter or move up - down using keys if it's not the first result